As electronic communication has become more popular, consumers are using this medium more frequently to obtain goods and services. Many consumers now employ the Internet to purchase articles ranging from airline tickets to automobiles. For example, some consumers may to access one or more Web pages maintained on a retailer's computer through the Internet, and then use these Web pages to view, select and purchase a product from that retailer. Other consumers may use electronic mail (commonly referred to as “email”) to order goods and services from a retailer. In some instances, a consumer may employ electronic mail to send or receive information relating to goods or services that the consumer has purchased over the Internet.
Some retailers have taken advantage of the flexibility offered by these electronic marketplaces to provide consumers with a broader range of choices for goods and services. For example, some manufacturers and retailers now permit a consumer to customize a manufactured article by specifying the characteristics of one or more features of the article, such as its size, color, or the structure of its construction. Some manufacturers and retailers may even permit a consumer to select one or more images to be emblazoned on the article. Typically, the manufacturer or retailer will provide the consumer with some type of graphical user interface for specifying the characteristics of the customizable features of the article. This type graphical user interface thus will display the choice of characteristics that a consumer can select for a customizable feature of the article.
More particularly, the graphical user interface typically will include one or more discrete-style “controls” for selecting among the different characteristics available to customize a feature of an article. For example, a graphical user interface will typically employ a list box control, check box controls, radio controls, button controls, a spinner control, or some combination of one or more of these controls. A list box control (also known as a “drop-down menu”) provides a list of values, with each value representing a characteristic choice for an article feature. A user may then specify a desired feature characteristic, such as a color for an exterior surface of an article, by selecting the value in the list representing that characteristic. Check box controls also provide a list of values representing characteristic choices for an article. Rather then selecting a value in the list, however, the user will specify a characteristic by selecting a check box control associated with a value in the list. Radio controls are similar to check box controls, but a radio controls prevent a user from selecting multiple characteristic choices. When a user selects a radio control associated with a value in the list, any previously selected radio control is automatically deselected.
With button controls, a button is provided for each available characteristic choice. Typically, each button will contain a value representing its associated characteristic, and the user will select a button to choose its associated characteristic. With a spinner control, the control will typically include a value field, an up arrow button, and a down arrow button. The value field will display a value representing the currently selected characteristic, and a user can change the value by discretely selecting either the up arrow button or the down arrow button. This type of control is more commonly used for characteristics that have a numerical aspect, such as a dimension (e.g., height, width, or length), a volume, or a weight.
With each of these discrete-style controls, the value representing a characteristic may be text, an image, or a combination of both. For example, if a text box has a list of items representing color characteristics, the text box may provide a list of the words “white,” “black,” “red,” “blue,” “green,” “brown,” “yellow,” and “purple.” Alternately, the text box may simply provide a list of rectangle images that are colored white, black, red, blue, green, brown, yellow and purple, respectively. Still further, the text box may provide the list of the words “white,” “black,” “red,” “blue,” “green,” “brown,” “yellow,” and “purple,” with an appropriately-colored rectangle image next to each word.
A consumer can employ these types of discrete-style selection controls to easily select a desired feature characteristic from among a small group of characteristic choices. Consumers often have more difficulty, however, employing these types of controls to select from among a large number of choices. When faced with a large number of different choices, for example, many consumers are overwhelmed and dissatisfied with the selection experience. In some cases, a consumer may even decide not to purchase an article, rather than have to select each of the feature characteristics required to custom order an article. Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide techniques that will allow consumers to more easily select desired article characteristics from a large number of different feature characteristic choices.
It also would be desirable to provide consumers with greater flexibility in customizing the appearance of an article. For example, some retailers will allow a user to select an image that will appear on a surface of the article. While the user may have a wide variety of images from which to select, however, the consumer typically is permitted only to choose whether or not a particular image will appear at a specific location on the article. The consumer usually cannot vary the location for the image or the amount of the image that will appear on the article. This lack of choice may lead a consumer to decline the purchase of an article, even when the consumer likes both the article and an image offered for the article. It would therefore be beneficial to allow a consumer to modify the characteristics of an image that will be emblazoned on a custom-designed article.